You don't have to say cheese to smile

Not saying cheese at Cristo Rei, Dili.

And I say it again: You don't have to say cheese to smile.

It's just a bit hard to smile these past few days and I need a reminder. Already failing my new year resolution? Nooo! The washing machine is broken, I just dropped my newly bought watch on the street and scratched it, having fever and flu for the past few days. OMG, the list of things gone wrong just goes on and on (talk about complaining...). The only time I smiled today was when I passed by a friend I worked with 4 years ago at the escalator this afternoon.

You don't really have to climb a hill to watch a beautiful sun rising over the sea to make you smile. But hell yeah it helps! Urmm... the hill in question is like a thousand miles away, so that's not going to happen anytime soon, haha.

Still not saying cheese on the Swiss Alps.

So maybe I need to go to a beach somewhere or climb something to free my ever-occupied mind. I've probably been thinking too much these days; I almost forgot to pay for my food at a restaurant today :(

Sun chasing

Sunset near Devil Mountain, Western Sahara.

Amidst all the hubbub of the just-past party-filled hedonistic celebration of a western New Year and the looming paint-the-town-red Chinese New Year (it's going to be the year of the water snake), I hardly had the time to come up with my own new year resolution... until now that is.

To be calm, happy and to smile always. Not asking too much, I would say. Recently, I watched a video of Tony Blair's sister-in-law on her conversion to Islam in which she mentioned how calm she feels afterwards - a feeling I noticed is shared by many new converts. Indeed, the word Islam itself relates to being peaceful, and that is how I believe I should be. Zen is the way forward :)

Sunrise over Cristo Rei, Timor Leste.

Another thing I believe in is the notion that a happy team is a good team. As the leader among my colleagues, I shoulder the responsibility to bring out the best in all of us, and to do that I cannot have a bitter group of people. While acknowledging my bosses' reliance on the organisation's productivity-driven vision and mission to achieve success, I also noticed that an unhappy team tends to fall apart and therefore fail. Now I would not let that happen under my watch, would I?

Afternoon sun at Salerno, Italy.

And it goes without telling that a smile is the by-product of being calm and happy inside. A smile is charity, and it definitely makes you look more attractive :)

I hope all goes well this year, as I have plans to chase the sun in places I have never been before (as a reward for my upcoming successes)!